Antenna



P. s. CARTER Jan. 30, 1940.

ANTENNA Original Filed March 9, 1936 TRANS.

IRA/V5.

INVENTQR. PHILIP s, CARTER ATTORNEY.

TRANS.

Patented Jan. 30, 1940 OFFICE ANTENNA of Delaware Application Mlarch 9, 1936, Serial No. 67,786 Renewed September 23, 1938 8 Claims.

The present invention relates to rotating beam antenna systems for the transmission of radio waves.

Hitherto, in the use of rotating beam antenna systems, the antennas have usually been of a type resulting in a beam of considerable width. A wide beam is necessarily uneconomical of power and, in some cases, results in dinlculty in measuring direction or locating a course.

The present invention overcomes the foregoing disadvantages and provides an arrangement which gives a narrow, vertically polarized, rotating beam which can be made to be either bidirectional or unidirectional, as desired. In brief,

5' the invention consists in the use of a wheel spoke of V antenna wires, each V lying in a vertical plane and being supplied with energy by means of a transmission line and commutator system.

The following is a detailed description of .the

invention in conjunction with drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a plan view of a rotating beam antenna system in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the system of Fig. 1

along the line 22 of Fig. l; and 1 Figs. 3, 4 and 5 show difierent arrangements for feeding opposite V antennas at a desired phase relation with respect to one another.

The individual V antennas of the invention w each comprise a pair of open-ended diverging wires in the vertical plane, the wires of each V being energized in phase opposition with respect to each other whereby standing waves are produced along the lengths of the wires. Radiation is effected in the direction along the plane of the bisector of the angle of the V., The manner of building a V antenna is described in great detail in my United States Patent No. 1,974,387, granted September 18, 1934, to which reference is herein made.

As will be evident from reference to Fig. 1, each V antenna comprises a spoke in the wheel array. Each V has its two wires, one connected to an upper segment a and the other connected 5 to a lower segment a of a commutator arrangement. These segments are fed by a rotating arrangement whose upper segments 1) and lower segments 1) feed the Vs of the wheel in succession. The commutator consists essentially of 60 two sets of upper curved plates and two sets of lower curved plates having a common center of curvature, the outer plates of which are stationary and the inner plates of which are arranged to be rotatable. Energy is fed from the rotating 6 plates to the stationary plates by means of the inherent natural capacity clue to the spacing between them, there being no actual metallic contact. Although this commutator arrangement is preferred because it produces a smooth and continuous change in the direction of the beam and 6 eliminates sparking, the invention is not limited thereto, since any other feeding arrangement may be employed.

If a lei-directional beam is desired, the distance S, as measured between the center points 10 ment for effecting quarter phase relation is to 20' use feeder wires which are electrically onequarter of a wavelength longer to one set of inner commutator segments than to the opposite set of inner commutator segments. Fig. 5 shows one such arrangement by way of example only. 25:

The number of Vs in the circle depends upon the length of the V antenna unit decided upon. If a capacity commutator such as mentioned above is used, the radiation patterns need not overlap. made, the larger will be the number of antenna units necessary to give a smooth rotation of the beam.

What is claimed is:

1. A rotating beam antenna system comprising 85 a plurality of V antennas, each lying in a. vertical plane, said planes being placed around a central point so as to produce a circular array, oppositely located V antennas being arranged to face opposite directions, and means for energiz- 40 ing successive V antennas, such that the respective wires of each V are fed in phase opposition to each other, and for energizing one V after another, and oppositely located V antennas simultaneously in quarter phase relation.

2. A unidirectional rotating beam antenna system comprising a plurality of V antennas, each lying in a vertical plane, said planes being placed around a central point so as to produce a circular array, and means for energizing successive 60 V antennas such that the respective wires of each V are fed in phase opposition to each other, and for energizing one V after another, and oppositely located V antennas simultaneously in quarter phase relation, the spacing between the The longer the wires of each V are 30:

center points of oppositely located V antennas being equal to (ZN-1) M4 where N is an integer, and the length of the communication wave.

3. A unidirectional rotating beam antenna system comprising a plurality of V antennas, each lying in a vertical plane and comprising a pair of diverging wires, said planes being placed around a central point so as to produce a circular array, oppositely located V antennas being arranged to face opposite directions, and means for energizing successive V antennas one after another, whereby the respective wires of each V are fed in phase opposition to each other for radiating a narrow beam along the bisector of the angle of the V, and for energizing oppositely located V antennas simultaneously in quarter phase relation.

4. A directive antenna system comprising two V antennae lying in the same plane and oppositely disposed with respect to their apices which are relatively close to each other, the conductors of one V antenna diverging away from the conductors of the other V antenna in an opposite direction measured along a line passing through the bisectcrs of the angles of the two Vs, and high frequency translating apparatus coupled to said V antennae for exciting both V antennae simultaneously and the conductors of each V with opposite instantaneous polarities, the spacing between said V antennae as measured between the centers thereof being equal to a multiple including unity of a quarter of the length of the communication wave and the coupling be tween them 50 related to the spacing as to provide a directive antenna system having its maximum efiectiveness along a line bisecting the angles ofv said-V's.

5. A directive antenna system comprising two V antennae, the apices of which are relatively close to each other, the conductors of said V ansaid V antennae for exciting both V antennae simultaneously and the conductors of each V with opposite instantaneous polarities, the spacing between said V antennae as measured between the centers thereof being equal to an approximately integer number of lengths of the operating wave, including unity, said V antennae being excited cophasally so as to provide a bidirective antenna system.

6. A directive antenna system comprising two V antennae, the apices of which are relatively close to each other, the conductors of said V antennae lying in the same plane, the conductors of one V antenna extending and diverging away from the conductors of the other V antenna, and high frequency translating apparatus coupled to said V antennae for exciting both V antennae simultaneously and the conductors of each V with opposite instantaneous polarities, the spacing between said V antennae as measured between the centers thereof being equal to an approximately odd number of quarter wave lengths at the operating frequency, including unity, said V antennae being excited in quarter phase relation so as to provide a unidirectional antenna system.

7. A directive antenna system comprising two V antennae, the apices of which are relatively close to each other, the conductors of said V antennae lying in the same plane, the conductors of one V antenna extending and diverging away from the conductors of the other V antenna, and high frequency translating apparatus coupled to said V antennae for exciting both V antennae simultaneously and the conductors of each V with opposite instantaneous polarities, the spacing between said V antennae as measured between the centers thereof being equal to a multiple, including unity, of half the length of the communication wave, said two V antennae being excited in a multiple half phase relationship, the number of said second mentioned multiple being electrically equivalent to the numberof said first mentioned multiple so as to provide a bidirectional antenna system.

8. A directive antenna system comprising two v antennae, the apices of which are relatively close to each other, the conductors of said V antennae lying in the same plane, the conductors of one V extending and diverging away from the conductors of the other V antenna, and high frequency translating apparatus coupled to said V antennae for exciting both V antennae simultaneously and the conductors of each V with opposite instantaneous polarities, the spacing between said V antennae as measured between the centers thereof being equal to a number of quarter wave lengths at the operating frequency, said number including unity, said V antennae being excited in a multiple quarter phase relationship, the number of said multiple being equal to the number of said quarter wave lengths along a line bisecting the angles of said V's.

PHILIP S. CARTER. 

